116 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ble to cut all our hay at just the right time. I suppose it takes, 

 on the average, three weeks to harvest the hay crop ; consequent- 

 ly we must cut some of it too early and some too late. I would 

 like to take three days in curing- hay. The first day, after the 

 dew is off, we set the machine at work, and as soon as we have 

 mowed and the grass gets wilted enough, (which is not till after 

 dinner) we put it up in bundles and let it remain through the next 

 day. The third day we throw it open, but without exposing it as 

 much to the sun as is generally done, and then get it in. I have 

 secured the best hay, by curing in that way, that I have ever had. 



The President. Do you mean to be understood that thq fifty 

 sheep were kept on only ten acres ? 



Mr. Abbott. I do sir. I had a letter from the manager of the 

 State Farm, who saw a letter I wrote to the Maine Farmer giving 

 an accouut of the experiment, asking whether the sheep had water 

 and grain. They had access to water, but had no grain or pro- 

 vender. They were on the ground from the spring until fall, and 

 were in the very best condition. They hiJ(l no lambs. 



Gov. Brown. I should like to inquire in what condition the 

 pasture was ; whether it was smooth and without bushes. 



Mr. Abbott. It was, sir. The soil was a clayey loam, slanting 

 a little to the north and west. An old field, which was in the 

 smoothest possible condition, without a stone or a stump. It had 

 been mown for twelve or fifteen years previous to my buying it. 



Mr. Wilder. The quantity of seed named by the lecturer was 

 large compared with the amount that many persons put on. The 

 general practice has been throughout this State to seed our land 

 in the spring of the year, when we sow grain, and if we sow no 

 grain, we seed at that time without. We need to sow a large 

 amount of seed in the spring, because the birds destroy a great 

 deal, and u)uch is destroj^ed after the seed springs up ; it often 

 comes on dry, and the young plant withers away. Now, if we 

 will sow grass seed in October, after the birds are gone, a peck of 

 seed will produce as many plants the next year as three pecks 

 sown in the spring. Manj'^ farmers would be surprised to see the 

 difference between sowing in fall and in spring, when sown 

 without grain. It is the usual practice in some parts of the State 

 to sow on purpose for grass alone without taking off a crop of 

 grain. We get a large crop of hay the first year, and our crop 

 will be larger for many years to come. 



It has been said that hay is the king of crops. It is so in this 



